He Chose Shepherds

(You didn't think we would get through the Christmas season without me talking about sheep and shepherds, did you? I couldn't let you down.)

One of the most iconic pictures on a Christmas card for a hundred years or more is the image of sheep on a hillside with the shepherds and their crooks standing at attention of the brilliant star shining over Bethlehem.

Though shepherds look rather refined on a Christmas card or in a crèche, the reality of shepherds is more like the dirty, smelly chore clothes my husband hangs in the garage. The sheep of Bible times were rarely, if ever, in a barn. They found shelter in caves or just huddled together in a spot out of the wind, with their shepherds watching over them to protect them from hungry coyotes, or mountain lions.

I'm sure the shepherds rarely bathed or brushed their teeth. The men probably had long unruly beards and their hair was matted from lack of attention. Their faces may have appeared dusty and wrinkled from exposure to the hot sun. Shepherds were shunned by the village-folk, yet they took their jobs quite seriously.

"And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night," (Luke 2:8 NIV).

Luke presents the shepherds as dutiful, dedicated servants. Isaiah presents the coming Messiah in the same way.

"He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young," (Isaiah 40:11 NIV).

Though I am partial to shepherds, when I read the description of Jesus as my Shepherd I would drop everything to run to His arms and be held close to His heart; wouldn't you? There is nothing as wonderful as resting in the strong, loving arms of my Savior.

Just as God chose the lowly shepherds to be the first ones to hear about the birth of their Savior, God also chooses us to be His servants to fulfill His will from right where we are - shepherds of a flock or not.

"May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen." (Hebrews 13:20-21 NIV).

Amen.
SDG